


Spark of Hope

by Slytherin_Princess10



Category: Walking Dead, Walking Dead (TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-07-28
Updated: 2014-08-10
Packaged: 2018-02-10 18:17:27
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 5,961
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2035164
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Slytherin_Princess10/pseuds/Slytherin_Princess10
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Their friendship emerged on the farm, their relationship matured in the prison, and their feelings evolved on the run...but that was before his heart was ripped from his chest, leaving him sitting in the middle of the road with no hope. The world ended for Daryl Dixon long after the beginning of the apocalypse.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Here it is! My new baby ;)**

**I'm super excited about this story and I hope you are too! I just wanted to let you know, I am still taking suggestions for what you guys would like to see, no matter how large or small. I really want to make this an enjoyable story for the readers.**

**I also wanted to say that I am doing this off of memory, so things may not be exactly like the tv show even when it comes to canon parts. You have been warned.**

**This chapter is super short but the next ones will be longer.**

To say that Daryl was excited to arrive on this godforsaken farm would be a flat out lie. Of course it would be nice to have a real base, so they could start taking this search for Sophia seriously. But they didn't know these people, and frankly, Daryl didn't want to. It's not like anyone was going to be crowning him Mr. Popularity.

He rode on Merle's Triumph, leading the small procession of vehicles up to the main house. He shut off the bike as everyone came out for greetings. Daryl chose to look around while Dale questioned Rick and Lori about their kid. He saw what must be the survivors who lived here, they were currently staring at him and the other new arrivals.

He heard Lori say something about Hershel and his people. Daryl assumed the old man with white hair was Hershel. He looked around at the others and saw a distraught looking older woman with curly blonde hair, a serious looking brunette, and a fresh faced boy. Daryl was unimpressed, but he did wonder how they could have made it so long.

He was about to turn his attention back to his own group when he felt someone watching him. He turned his head slightly and his eyes locked with hers. The blue depths belonged to a tiny young blonde girl looking at him curiously. She had a small smile on her face and her cheeks seemed to tinge red when she noticed he was staring back. Daryl shot her a glare before ripping his attention away from her, remembering there were more important things to be focusing on instead of some googly eyed teenage girl.

Apparently a man named Otis had died trying to get supplies for Carl's surgery, which is why the entire population of the farm was gathered around a false grave listening to Hershel read from his bible. When the older woman, named Patricia, asked Shane to share Otis' last moments, Daryl knew the son of a bitch was lying through his teeth. He saw the young girl shift slightly away from Shane, making Daryl think she might be smarter than she looks.

After the so called burial, everyone scattered to set up camp before coming up with a plan for searching for Sophia, making Daryl feel even more annoyed than normal. He had just finished setting up his worn out tent when he heard a throat clear behind him. He spun around, wondering how the person had gotten the jump on him. Once again he was face to face with the girl.

"Hi!" The blonde bubbled, making Daryl nearly snarl at her. He wasn’t in the mood for bubbly these days.

He squinted his eyes at her, trying to give off an intimidating vibe, hoping it'd just make her shut up and go away. He was sadly surprised when she didn't. Instead, she smiled and stuck her hand out to shake his, but Daryl immediately took a step back. Her smile faltered and she lowered her hand, but still did not leave.

"I'm Beth...Beth Greene." She was silent for a moment, probably waiting for him to respond with his own introduction. When he did not, she just continued. "I just wanted to come welcome you. You can come find me if you ever need anything!" She once again tried to smile, hoping that he would seek her out and not her father considering both he and Jimmy specifically asked her not to be friendly with the newcomers.

Daryl just glared at her, but on the inside he was confused. He didn't know this girl at all and here she was acting like the goddamn welcoming committee. She opened her mouth to speak again. "So where-"

Daryl cut her off before she could finish her question. "Listen up doe eyes, I don't need no fuckin' welcome wagon comin' up to bother me all the time. I don't plan on bein' here that long so why don't you just leave me the fuck alone?" His voice had risen to an above acceptable level but he had apparently gotten his point across because Beth's face completely fell. She could only seem to nod before turning around to quickly walk back towards the house. Daryl just shook his head at her before turning back to finish unpacking his shit.

Soon, a small group gathered around a county map, studying it to try and figure out the best way to map out a search for Sophia. Beth had been looking for Maggie and walked out to find her gathered around with a few of the others. She started to walk towards her sister when Daryl looked up at her, seeing her coming towards them. Under the scrutiny of his stare, Beth quickly ditched the idea of Maggie and turned right around to go in the opposite direction.

If Daryl were a better man, he might have felt bad, but he didn't really care. After all, he wasn't here to make friends.

**Thank you to my wonderful beta, Riain!**

 

 


	2. Chapter 2

**Okay, here is chapter 2!**   
Daryl was out searching for Sophia, and he was the only one out looking today. He was determined to find this little girl, which was why he was in a foul mood. When he found her, she would know what it was like to have someone look for her, unlike him. Between injuries and lack of skills, no one else was able to start looking until tomorrow. Daryl wasn't stupid, he knew that the first couple days after she got lost would be the most critical.  
He was trekking through the woods, no set path in mind, trying to pick up on any clues as to where Sophia might be.  Keeping his eyes peeled, he let his thoughts wander. Soon the sound of his boots crunching the leaves beneath his feet were muted. Carl, the Grimes kid, was going to pull through. Daryl was pretty relieved to hear that. He might have not really known the boy or the family, but they were good people. Plus, he didn't know how much longer this group could go if they got any more bad news, which is why Daryl never completely disregarded the thought of just going out on his own. Hell, it would be a lot easier and much more efficient. Even he, in all of his solitary glory, had to wonder how long his sanity would last if he was truly and actually alone.  
His thoughts drifted to the owner of the farm, Hershel. The old man seemed like a real hard ass, not wanting the group to carry around their own guns. It seemed the man didn't truly understand how serious the situation was. There was no way in hell Daryl would be giving up his weapons, even the handgun tucked away in the saddlebags of Merle's bike. Maggie, the oldest of Hershel's daughters, seemed alright. She didn't act like she would tolerate anyone's shit and that was one quality that Daryl could admire.  
 The other daughter, Beth, was the one he had a problem with. From what Daryl had seen, she would just be another mouth to feed, helping out with useless things like laundry and the dishes. He shook his head at his own thoughts. Fuckin' people acting like the apocalypse wasn't even happening, thinking their little farm haven would remain safe. These people were comfortable, and when you got comfortable, you got killed.   
He looked up from the dirt and leaves to see a little house not too far off. It was pretty much in the middle of nowhere. Daryl could only hope that Sophia had stumbled upon it and holed up, waiting for someone to come find her. He quickened his pace towards the shabby structure. He quickly cleared the house, finding no one inside. He did manage find a can of food in the trash can that had been recently opened, leading him to believe that someone had been here.   
Daryl went through the house once again, looking for any other signs of life. He rechecked all of the rooms and found nothing. The dust hadn't even been disturbed. It was only when he was about to leave that he noticed the unopened door he hadn't once checked yet. He had his crossbow at the ready, and he quickly yanked the door open. He lowered the bow, seeing no immediate threat and took in the tiny pantry. There was a makeshift bed on the floor and Daryl could only assume that whoever was sleeping here was also the person who had opened the canned food he had found in the trash. It was definitely too small of a space for an adult to stay in, deducing that it must have been a child.  
He exited the house, and started yelling for the little girl. "SOPHIA!" He walked a few feet before stopping to yell again. "SOPHIA!" He was probably drawing the attention of unwanted visitors, but he wanted to make sure she could hear him if she was still in the area. After shouting for her a few more times, receiving no response, Daryl decided he would head back and tell the others what he had found.  
Turning to go back in the direction he had come from, he spotted a flower, a special one in particular. He had read the story as a little boy, when he had found himself in the library one day hiding out from his father after a particularly bad beating. It shocked him that he even still retained the information of the Cherokee rose, but he did nonetheless. Daryl now felt more than ever that he would find this little girl, if he just had a little hope.  
He quickly picked the flower, deciding he would take it back for Carol. The lady deserved to have something lift her spirits. More importantly, he wanted it to be clear that no one was giving up on finding that little girl. When Daryl had been lost, and nobody bothered to look, he had been a child just like Sophia. He ended up lonely, hungry, and cold. His gut clenched as he thought of little Sophia going through those same things, all with the addition of walkers. Merle would kick his ass if he was here, probably go on about Daryl being the 'sensitive' one.  
He hiked back through the woods, back towards the Greene farm. Once on the outskirts of the property, he stopped for a moment to truly look at it. It was a beautiful image, even Daryl could admit that much. He could see people doing their so called chores and assumed that Carol could probably be found in the RV. He took a big breath and was about to start walking over to the campsite when she spoke up.  
"Did ya find anything?"   
"Shit!" Daryl wondered how in the hell this girl kept getting the jump on him. He had no idea she was there. "That's a good fuckin' way to get an arrow through the eye." Beth was lying on her belly in the grass, writing in some notebook. Daryl wanted to snort, thinking it was probably a diary. Her hair was in a ponytail, falling over her back, and she was dressed like she was getting ready to go out with friends, definitely not appropriate end of the world attire.  
"Jeez sorry," Beth put her pen down on the crisp white pages of her journal. "You'd think you'd be more aware of your surroundings. This is the apocalypse, after all."  
Daryl slightly raised an eyebrow. The girl might have more attitude than he had previously thought. That didn't mean all that much though. "Ya? And what the hell would you know about that?"   
Beth stared at him and shrugged. "Not much, I guess."  
"That's what I thought," Daryl said with a glare on his face.  
"You always such a mean person?"  
"Huh?" The look on his face would have been comical if Beth wasn't just a little bit scared. Normally she was a nice polite girl, never argued, but right now was the time she had picked to grow a little bit of a spine.  
"All I've done is try to be nice and welcoming to you. The rest of your group has been thankful but you seem like you're just put out. It's just rude." She did have a point that Daryl couldn't argue with. He was 'rude' and he wasn't really all that thankful to be here. "Don't you think in the end of the world, you might want some people on your side?" Daryl scoffed at her naive thinking, shaking his head. "I guess I should give up on gettin' that apology then?"  
"Apology? What the hell are you talkin' about?" This girl was batshit crazy.  
"You know, for screamin' at me. I didn't do anything wrong."  
"How about intrudin' on my personal space, being all nosy?"  
"I'll just forget about the apology then. You don't seem the type anyways." Beth picked up her pen to begin writing again.  
"Now what the hell is that supposed to mean?"  
"Exactly what it sounded like. You just don't seem like you're going to apologize, especially if you don't see anything wrong with what you did."  
"You don't know me!” Beth raised her eyebrows.  “You got some balls talkin' to me like that." Her nose scrunched up at his choice of words, probably not the best choice to use with her.  
She just shrugged. "Calling it like I see it."  
Daryl let out a small chuckle, one that Beth had to strain to hear. "Yeah, I guess so."  
Beth then noticed the flower in his hand. "So you been pickin' flowers out there all day?" She nodded her head to the rose he was holding.  
Daryl felt his cheeks get warm and wanted to curse the natural response to embarrassment. "Shut up." He began walking again, towards the RV. He heard the giggle escape her mouth from behind him. The sound wasn't all that bad coming from her lips. He shook his head for what felt like the one hundredth time today and refocused on finding Carol.   
"See ya later Daryl!" He didn't look back at her, but he did throw up his hand, figuring the girl wasn't all that bad. Young and naive? Sure. A liability? Definitely. However, there were worse things a person could be.  
 **So what did you guys think? Should I continue? Let me know your thoughts!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Here is the next chapter! Hope you enjoy!**

The following day the group was once again establishing the plan for finding Sophia. Daryl was in a much better mood, for him at least, because it seemed the rest of the survivors were finally taking the search seriously. Most others were going to pair off and search their own section of the grid, while Daryl decided that he would be going out on his own, knowing it was how he worked best.

He figured that since this was a farm, they should have a horse for him to take out. He didn't even bother asking the old man's permission, thinking he'd just say no. So Daryl made his way over to the part of the property where the stables were located. When he entered, he wasn't aware that Beth was tending to a horse. He walked to one of the stalls and choosing a random horse. He led it out and was going to start preparing to set out when out of the corner of his eye, he saw another stall door open. Beth stepped out and raised an eyebrow at him. He was at least somewhat grateful she didn't immediately start in on him. He shrugged at her and started looking around for a saddle.

It was obvious to Beth that Daryl had not asked permission to borrow one of their horses. If he had, then he certainly wouldn't be saddling up Nelly, the most skittish of the bunch. She figured she should at least warn him. "You know, you probably shouldn't--"

He cut her off, assuming she was going to say he shouldn't be taking out one of their horses. "You should probably mind your own business!"

Beth's eyes widened, starting to realize that Daryl was somewhat of an unpredictable spirit. One minute he would be fine, and then next, he had snapped. The good girl in her wanted to try once again to warn him, but the woman in her won out. "Fine."

She turned around and went back to the horse she had previously been taking care of, leaving Daryl to do whatever the heck he wanted, he'd find out soon enough why they called her Nelly.

A few moments later, Daryl was leading the horse out and passing by the stall that Beth occupied when he stopped. He pushed open the door, she stopped brushing the horse and looked towards him. "Surprised you're even in here. Your little boyfriend is planning on going out with the others today."

Beth's brow furrowed, giving him a look of confusion. "Wait...what?"

He just nodded, knowing she didn't really expect him to repeat what he had said. She dropped the brush and pushed past Daryl, her hands making contact in his chest to gently shove him to the side, running out of the stables to probably go find the dumbass kid. Neither of them paid attention to how Daryl didn't even flinch when her hands made with him.

As luck would have it, Daryl did quickly find out just how jumpy the horse could be. He had been searching the woods for a couple hours when something caught his eye. Down by a small body of water, there was a doll. He was sure it was the one that Sophia had been carrying around. He was able to retrieve the doll, but when he got back on the horse, ready to continue his search, a snake slithered through the brush making the horse freak out and rear back, throwing Daryl off. He tumbled over a ridge and landed hard. His head was spinning but he could swear he was wet. It took him a few seconds to realize he was in the shallow water.

Next, he felt an intense pain in his left side. He looked down and saw one of his own arrows protruding from his flesh. He groaned, wanting to kick his own ass. It was fucking embarrassing to realize you had fallen on one of your own weapons. "Son of a bitch!" He slowly made his way to his knees and began ripping the sleeves off of his shirt. The one time he decides to wear a real long sleeved shirt...

He wrapped the fabric around him, trying to stabilize the arrow and minimize the blood flow. When he moved, he winced. He finally made it on to his feet when he realized his crossbow was missing. He wanted to curse, but thought that maybe screaming 'shit' at the top of his lungs might injure him further. After locating it with a large stick, he slowly began to ascend the ridge. God must have been mighty pissed off at Daryl that day, probably for always bein' such an ass to the farmer princess. He lost his grip and once again slid down the side of the ridge, losing consciousness once he hit the bottom.

Daryl awoke later, no telling how much time had passed. When he opened his eyes, his whole body felt like it was on fire, but it was no match for the chaos going on inside his mind. Right in front of his face was his brother.

"Why don't you pull that arrow out, dummy? You could bind your wound better." Easier said than done. Of course the first words out of his mouth would be some smart ass advice.

"Merle." He was happy to see his brother, even if it meant he had finally gone insane.

"What's going on here? You takin' a siesta or something?"

Daryl fought the urge to roll his eyes. "Shitty day, bro."

"Like me to get you a pillow...maybe rub your feet?"

Daryl scoffed. "Screw you."

"You're the one who is screwed by the looks of it." Asshole had a point. "All them years I spent tryin' to make a man out of you, this is what I get? Look at you...lying in the dirt like a used brother. You're going to die out here, brother." Daryl wanted to thank him for the vote of confidence, but his mind zeroed in on the burning sensation in his abdomen. "And for what?"

He was able to speak, but his voice came out scratchy and weak. He sounded like a pussy. "A girl. They lost a little girl."

"So you gotta thing for little girls now? How about that jailbait back at the farm?"

"Shut up." The last thing he wanted to be doing right now was think about Beth.

"Yeah, I don't blame you baby brother. I don't know if I could pass up that opportunity either. Although, I have to say I don't think you're quite man enough." In this moment, Daryl wished that Merle wasn't just a defense mechanism his body had come up with. If only so he could punch him square in the face.

The rest of the conversation was fuzzy, but Daryl did finally realize that a walker was making a meal out of his boot. He snapped out of his imaginative haze and managed to kill the walker, and it's friend too. In the process, he had been forced to rip the arrow out of his side, leaving the hole now exposed. He retied his makeshift bandage and wanted to curse Merle for being right, but he was no longer here. Never really was.

Merle would emerge once again, whooping his mental ass, pushing him to get up the ridge. He finally made it up and rested at the top, trying to catch his breath. The trek back to the farm was long, and he felt like hell by the time he made it back. He must have looked pretty scary because Rick and some of the others ran up to him, his gun aimed at his face. Daryl made a smart mouthed comment, almost daring Rick to shoot him. He didn't expect a shot to come, but it did. His head burned and for a second it felt like it might explode. He tried telling Rick that he had just been kidding before he passed out.

Beth was on the porch when she saw some of the guys carrying Daryl back to the house. She put her hand over her mouth and suppressed the urge to vomit. He looked like a walker and she prayed to God he wasn't dead. She briefly heard them say something about the bullet grazing him and she let out a breath of relief. She really should have told him about that stupid horse.

**Things will be starting to get more comfortable between Beth and Daryl in the next few chapters...a friendship born! Just wanted to remind you that this is a romantic Bethyl fic but it will be eventual. My characters will be OOC at times (for the good of the story), but I want it to be as believable as I can make it!**

　


	4. Chapter 4

**Sorry this one took so long to get out! As some of you might have seen, I've been working on another AU I've started. Don't worry though because I am definitely not giving up on this story!**

They had managed to get Daryl upstairs into the guest room and they laid his bloodied body on the bed. The contrast between the white linens and his filthy tanned skin was stark, making him stand out against the plain backdrop. Beth shuffled in behind her daddy and Patricia who quickly shooed Rick out after Daryl had told him about finding the doll, leaving the pair to get to work on the beaten man.

Beth stood back, allowing them the room to work, but kept standing on her toes to try and see over their shoulders as they assessed his injuries. Quickly, they determined that he would be fine, after they stitched up the wounds. Patricia, who Beth had previously been standing behind, left to get some more supplies, leaving Beth in Daryl's eye line. He glared at her, probably thinking she was intruding...she most likely was, but she just felt awful, like it was partly her fault.

"Beth, can you get some rags and water? Clean up that head wound while I work on this." Hershel gestured to the hole in Daryl's side.

It took a few seconds before she responded. "What? Oh, yeah. Yeah, I'll just go get that." As she was stepping out, she was certain she saw Daryl rolling his eyes. She huffed as she walked to get the cloths. He wasn't like anyone she had ever met before, sparking such anger inside of her at the drop of a hat. She hurried to grab the supplies that she needed, not wanting the king of rednecks to be kept waiting, and made her way back into the room.

Hershel and Patricia had already begun their work on Daryl's side so Beth walked around to the other side of the bed, not wanting to get in their way. Her position made it so she had to slightly lean over Daryl to reach the cut on his head. He looked away from her, clearly uncomfortable being in such close proximity so Beth got right down to work, gently dabbing at the blood with the white towel. After she cleaned up the excess crimson liquid, she put pressure on the opening, making Daryl wince. "Sorry, gotta put pressure on it. Head wounds bleed a lot." Daryl gave her a look that said _no shit._ She had a feeling that this was one of his favorite expressions while around her.

When Hershel and Patricia had finished working on the front of his body, they had Daryl turn on his side, pulling his shirt off. Beth kept the pressure on his head, which made the situation even more awkward because now Daryl was eye to eye with her chest. He made the wise decision to close his eyes.

Slightly above him, Beth had a clear view of his back at this angle. While her intention had been to scope out the puncture wound on his flank, as she looked at the backside of his body, her eyes didn't even notice the new hole. Instead, her eyes were drawn to the many scars that littered his skin. They were various shapes, sizes, colors, and immediately Beth's eye's teared up. She blinked away the tears, not wanting anyone to see her reaction. It was obvious just by looking that these were very old wounds that had grown with his body, so she deduced that whatever caused them, must have been when he was just a child. Abuse was what her mind went, knowing it would easily explain his attitude towards anyone and anything.

When she peeled her eyes away from his back, she glanced back down at his face and saw that Daryl was looking right at her. She held her breath, waiting for a harsh comment, but it never came. He wasn't even really glaring at her, instead he was studying her, just as she had been doing to him seconds before. There was no way Beth would be bringing it up if he wasn't so she looked away from him, refocusing on his bleeding head.

Hershel was finishing up when Rick came back in to ask about Daryl. Of course her daddy made a comment about going through a ton of antibiotics, he followed it up with a question about Nelly.

"Any idea what happened to my horse?" He was cleaning off his hands as he asked.

"The one that almost killed me? If it's smart it left the country." Beth suppressed the urge to laugh, even knowing Hershel was seriously pissed about the horse being gone.

"We call that one Nelly...as in Nervous Nelly. I could have told you she'd throw you if you had bothered to ask."

Daryl looked at Beth with a pointed stare, making her look down at the floor. He mumbled something about remembering that for next time.

Hershel peered over at the head wound, Beth lifted the towel for him to get a good look. "Wrap that up for me Bethy, would you? Just run and get some more bandages. Seems to be another thing we're just running right through."

She nodded, telling Daryl to take the towel from her and to keep the pressure on. When his hand reached up to grab the rag, their hands touched and Beth felt a shock between their skin. She pulled back and Daryl gave her an odd look. She shrugged it off and left to go get some gauze from the medicine cabinet.

When she returned to the room, Rick had left, leaving her and Daryl alone. Beth cleared her throat and mustered up the courage to approach him. She tried to put off an air of confidence but her hands were shaky and when she spoke, her voice came out small. "I'm sorry." She moved the towel away from his head while Daryl raised an eyebrow at her. "For not telling you about Nelly. I thought about it...but you were being kind of an asshole so I decided against it."

Again she expected for him to rip her a new one, but she was surprised once more. "The way I see it, I kind of deserved it." She stopped her movements, quite shocked by his words. "What? I can recognize when I'm being an ass, I just don't care a lot of the time."

Beth continued on with her work, placing the bandage padding against the wound. "I mean, I guess I just expected you to go off on me. I do kind of deserve it."

"Maybe just don't have enough energy to be pissed right now."

Beth began wrapping gauze around his head to hold the padding in place. "No energy for anger? We better get you checked out again, maybe you have a concussion. Or overdosed on painkillers." She was being over dramatic. "Because the Daryl Dixon I've encountered would never say such a thing."

She had just finished with the wound care when he spoke up again. "Maybe I'm just tired of always bein' an asshole to someone who don't deserve it."

Beth smiled at him. "Now that sounds like a logical answer." She began cleaning up the mess that had been left in the room, no longer worrying about blood contamination as Daryl's was already all over her hands. It was one of the things about this world that had changed, no longer did you worry about getting stranger's blood all over you.

When she was done tidying up, she gestured to the small bathroom just off the room. "If you want, you can clean up in there...I don't want to say you need it or anything...but you totally need it. Just don't get your bandages wet." She left the room, trash in her hands, leaving Daryl behind to shake his head at her words.

Beth went downstairs to join the other women in helping to prepare dinner. They all questioned how Daryl was and she decided not to tell him about what he had actually said. "Oh you know, just as grumpy as always. He'll be fine." She didn't think Daryl would appreciate her blabbing to all his people that he had gone soft.

When dinner was all prepared and everyone was getting ready to sit down to eat together, Carol announced she would take a plate to Daryl. Beth was slightly annoyed because she had been planning on doing that as well.

When the table was all set and all the food had been placed, Beth grabbed the full dish she had set to the side and found Maggie. "If anyone asks, I didn't feel good and went upstairs to lay down."

Maggie nodded, looking slightly confused. "Okay...and where are you really going?"

Beth inwardly cringed. "Uh, I just thought that our house guest shouldn't have to eat alone."

"Beth..." Her sister was about to start a lecture but Beth didn't have time for that.

"I know, Maggie, but just please cover for me?" Maggie sighed, reluctantly agreeing. "Oh, especially don't let Jimmy come lookin' for me."

When she made her way into his temporary residence, Daryl snarled at her. "Jesus, can't an injured man get some fuckin' peace in this house?"

Beth squeaked at his harsh words. "Oh...I'm sorry, I'll just go back downstairs."

"Wait, shit, Beth...thought it was someone else." His voice was much more gentle when speaking this time.

"So I can stay?" She stepped inside further as if to test him.

"S'your house." She smiled at his response, knowing that was basically an invitation in the language of Daryl, and shut the door behind her. She sat down in a comfortable armchair across the room, facing the bed.

"So, how's that new plan going? You know, the one about being angry a little less?" She could have sworn she saw a smile flash across his lips but it also could have been her imagination.

"Harder than it sounds. Now eat your dinner, you need protein if you wanna heal." Again her imagination could have been running wild but she thought she heard whispered words come from him, something along the lines of a sarcastic yes mam.

The meal started off silent, but with Beth's prodding even Daryl was surprised at how easy they fell into conversation. It wasn't some heart to heart where they spilled their guts and cried on each other's shoulders, but they did get to know each other a little bit better in terms of trivial knowledge. He now knew her favorite food that she missed was frozen yogurt, or anything real cold for that matter, especially with the Georgia heat. Beth learned that Daryl learned how to ride a horse by doing exactly what he had done today, stealing one. They had talked about Sophia, the farm, where they were when they heard about the outbreak, and more. Beth would have to call the day a win in her book, even if it included Daryl getting thrown down a mountain and getting shot. She was just glad she was given the chance to get to know the man who came across as so rough but was much more sensitive than he let on.

**Just want to remind you guys this will be a slow burn. I want these characters to get to know each other before they jump into anything so there will be much more in terms of interaction between them to see! Review and let me know what you thought because it makes me a happy girl ;)**

 


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